Books

Christian-Peter Hanelt, Almut Möller (eds.)

Bound to Cooperate – Europe and the Middle East II

1st edition 2008, 370 pages

Paperback
ISBN 978-3-89204-899-2

The Middle East is a region of crises, conflicts and wars as much as it is a region of great potential and opportunity. However, the European Union and its member states have not yet found a viable strategic approach to meet both the challenges and opportunities in their immediate neighbourhood. The Europeans have not yet developed sufficient foreign and security policy mechanisms to pursue their interests effectively. How the European Union can support economic and political transformation processes throughout the region and thus contribute to a more stable, more prosperous and more democratic Middle East remains the subject of intense debate.

The objective of this book is to provide a platform for this debate about the European Union’s future role as a player in the Middle East, at a crucial moment in EU-U.S.-Middle East relations. As the European Union re-organizes its Mediterranean policies and the United States vote a new president into office, the authors of this book discuss a wide range of topics related to European foreign policy in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Gulf region, Europe’s role in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the state of transformation processes in the region.

Iran and the International System

Much attention in the West has focused on Iran as a problem country. This book challenges the representations of Iran as a hostile regional power led by ideologues, and goes further by discussing how international relations are viewed from inside Iran itself, outlining the factors which underpin Iranian thinking on international relations and considering what role Iran, as a large and significant country in the Middle East, ought to play in a fairly constructed international system.

The book is written by leading scholars and policy makers from inside, as well as from outside, Iran and includes academics with unparalleled access and insights into the world-views of the Iranian leadership. Subjects covered include: the rationale of Iran’s Islamic constitution, including its electoral system, and the impact this has on international relations; Iran’s view of the ideal international system, including the place therein of ethics, justice, and security; Iran’s international interests, including energy needs; and relations with the West, including the clash between Iranian and Western views of the world order.

Anoushiravan Ehteshami is Dean of Internationalisation, and Professor of International Relations. He was founding Head of the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University, UK. His most recent books published by Routledge include Geopolitics and Globalization in the Middle East: Old Games, New Rules, and The Middle East’s Relations with Asia and Russia. Reza Molavi received his PhD from Durham University and recently acted as the Executive Director of the Centre for Iranian Studies, Durham University, UK.

Iran is the fourth biggest producer of oil in the world, and its coastline stretches the entire length of the Persian Gulf, one of the world’s most strategic waterways in terms of energy security. The establishment of the Islamic Republic after the 1979 Revolution paved the way for religious clerics to gain ultimate political control in Iran. A period mostly remembered for crackdowns on political dissenters, the only area in which differences of opinion were tolerated was the role of the private and public sectors. Indeed, the role of the private sector was at the centre of discussions between the two main factions in the Islamic Republic Party and later on between the two main wings in the Majlis.

Two decades later, Iran appeared to be entering another era of transformation with the election of reformist president Mohammad Khatami in 1997. But the reformists failed to deliver on their promises and in 2005 Khatami was replaced by the ultra conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who promised the Iranian people an end to economic hardship. Yet the structural failure of Iran’s economy makes it very difficult for any president, whether conservative or reformist, to deliver on such promises.

In this book, Reza Molavi explores the potential for the privatization of some of Iran’s national institutions, in particular whether there is the political will to privatize the Iranian oil and gas industry. He begins by providing a theoretical basis for the determination of privatization policy. Subsequently, he explores a set of international precedents and then presents an historical overview of Iran since World War II in order to build a context for the determinants of privatization policy in Iran. Finally, the specific background, legal and institutional framework, and policy-maker perspectives are incorporated into the overall analysis. Together, these three approaches provide a cumulative understanding of the determinants of privatization policy in Iran.